Welcome to the Harvest Bridge podcast. A part of our work here at Harvest Bridge is connecting local leaders in South Asia with people like you, here in the United States. Through our podcast we want to provide a place where you can hear their voices and listen to their stories in their own words. There is a transcription available for those who prefer to read these stories.
This month at Harvest Bridge, we are focusing on the ministry in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is the world’s eighth most populous nation, but Christians compose just 0.3% of the population there. Last summer student-led protests advocating for reform of the nation’s civil service quota system were violently repressed by the government. Wider protests erupted, with protestors entering the official residence of the Prime Minister. She resigned and fled to India, and an interim government was formed. While the overthrow of the government was largely supported by the people of Bangladesh, there were cases of violence against Hindus, Christians, and other minorities by extremist groups. Thankfully, these incidents have slowed as the situation has stabilized.
In this podcast, you will hear an interview with Pastor Darpan*, the Country Leader for Harvest Bridge in Bangladesh. He shares first about their anti-trafficking work. Ministry leaders in Bangladesh have been fighting human trafficking since 2016, and they rescued 229 girls and women just last year.
“This time they are doing like, to protect [against] the human trafficking in the bus station, lounge station, train station, plane station, and some others. Those are the local places, very crowded places, areas. People are coming, and lot of children [are] coming and trafficking from Bangladesh to India, Afghanistan. It is…in previous times, lot of children, they pass from,by border way. But our people just, they are watching in the bus stations and train stations. Just, they are watching and they catch. They can understand which people with children is coming over there, and [they are] catching them, and [asking] various questions. And at the local police station, they are helping, and they’re catching [the traffickers].”
Much like in the United States, trafficking can sometimes be caught in high travel areas, like bus or train stations. The ministry leaders watch these areas closely, hoping to find children who might be in danger. Once the children are rescued, they notify the police and the children are taken to a safe location. When the children are ready, the leaders begin to gently ask questions to help identify their families. The work of rescuing women and children from trafficking is critical.
“And they go to the police station and they put it in, and they send the children. When they saw they kept one child or one girl, like as a 16 or 15 or 13 years – boys and girls. They keep [them] in their hostel. They have a hostel, a building, and they keep them over there. And very slowly, these children, or these girls, they said, they suggest [a question], ‘where is their home?’ ‘Where is their parents?’ And getting the legal telephone number, mobile number, and they called them and they send. And these people, they took the student, took the children, and they returned – calling the guardian to come. And the child knows that he is the daughter [or son] of this parent. When the police justify, then they return their children to their parents”
Our local missionaries work alongside local law enforcement to ensure that children can be safely returned to their families. And if they cannot be, that they have a safe place to stay. Pastor Darpan* also sees this important work as an opportunity to share the hope of the gospel.
“When we make a good relationship with the trafficked children and the guardian, and we want to give the good news, that we are the Christians. We wanted to give good news, to share the Good News to these people. And this guardian will know this is the Christian people.”
Pastor Darpan went on to share about the impact this ministry had on one young girl who was rescued from trafficking by the ministry leaders of Harvest Bridge.
“This girl, her age was 15. In Bangladesh, Bangladesh constitution law says that one girl, she can marry, she can marry, like after 18 years. At 15 years, one of the boys, he tempted her and brought her- asking her that if you go with me to Dhaka, then I’ll give you the job. Garment, garment job. But when they come to Dhaka and then she’s not getting job. Like, this way. And this bus station – they were in the busy bus station, and they are fighting. They were quarreling with each other. ‘You showed me, you told me that you provide me a job, but you are not.’ This boy is asking that ‘I’ll marry you”, like this way, ‘you can go with me’, like some other house. This boy, he wanted to use her. He wanted to use her like in a bad way . So this kind of boy, they are quarreling in the bus station. And at that time, our sister Saroj* she went there and she could understand that this, this case, is not a very good, good case. So she was sitting by, and she was hearing very silently and after then, when they understood that this is the bad case, then she called them, the police people. They took the case and keep her to the hostel.”
A 15 year old girl was told there was a job for her in Dhaka, but it was a trick used by traffickers to lure her from her home. As the situation escalated between the girl and her captor in the bus station, the Harvest Bridge leaders took notice. They notified the police and she was taken to safety. Pastor Darpan went on to share what happens next when a child is brought to a hostel before returning home.
“They [women who run the hostel] shared good news with them [the trafficked girls], and they heard this kind of good news. And after ten days, when they [the girls] return [to their home], when they go to their parents, and they said that, ‘I stayed at Dhaka, at the hostel, where I got some lessons from the Bible.’ And they give some lessons about the Jesus Christ, and this kind of prayer, this kind of song they sing.They [the girls] learn and they practice in the village zone. And this, this victim girl, she became the witness, main witness to these villages, and now she’s preaching the gospel over there. So this is the good thing. Like this, like this way, we wanted to save the children and the women and the boys.”
Rescuing women and children from human trafficking is a tremendous accomplishment. The work these ministry leaders are doing in Bangladesh is saving them from a life of servitude and abuse. The rescued children receive medical treatment, counseling, food, clean clothes, and a safe place to sleep. In the middle of this work, they are also sharing the gospel. After leaving the hostel in Dhaka, the young woman took the hope of Jesus back to her village and became the main witness to her community.
Sometimes the gospel in Bangladesh is shared through the testimony of people like this young woman. Other times missionaries go out into the villages. These leaders must be wise and careful in their approach.
“So first, their job is to go to the village and to know their leader, who is the village leader, the uncle or the auntie. Everything has to be very gently, very politely, of course. And when he will be very politely answering. Okay, the next day, you will come again. That time he can go with some tracks, with the Bible or something. This conversation will be day by day, and then another day he may call, saying, ‘okay, uncle, you can call another leader, also with you and your wife.’ And some, maybe two, three leaders may hear this kind of conversation. The next day, we will call more people. Like this way, this conversation, and this Bible approach, and the Bible tracts. And he, he will keep some Bible tracts. Not only that, he will show the Jesus Film. He will show the flip chart and some picture books and some witnessing story.”
Day by day, the missionaries return to the villages, building trust with the leaders and sharing the story of the Christian faith with gentleness and compassion. When someone does express a desire to become a Christian and be baptized, there are significant obstacles to this important act of faith. There are risks not only for the missionaries but for those that want to convert.
“The extremist people, sometimes they come to the village and ask, okay, ‘if you go to the Lord through the water, I’ll report to the government.’ They’re, they’re making some bad news. They are influencing their power. When we go to the village, our life is [at] risk.”
These risks are one of the many reasons physical church buildings are so important in Bangladesh. Having a physical building recognized by the local government provides protection by the law for Christians attending that church. Church buildings also provide a place for Christians to worship, as well as a base for education and social programs, and a refuge in times of disaster.
“When the storm or the cyclone or something is coming, so they have no shelter, other places [are] gone underwater. So sometimes this kind of situation, ‘where the people may go just for the cyclone time?’ So when the water is coming from the sea and some others water, so some people, they may come to the church building, and they can stay just for the shelter. After the water removing and the stop [of] the cyclone, people may go another way. We can start a school also, and the community people and some our believers, people, children, they can, they may come to attend and get the education from here.”
There are currently twelve churches across Bangladesh that need funding to finish construction. Just $16,000 will help finish these twelve buildings to provide a space for worship, education and safety. You can give using the form below.
In Bangladesh, our ministry leaders are confronting some of the hardest challenges—human trafficking, religious persecution, poverty—and responding with faith, courage, and compassion. They’re rescuing women and children, planting churches, supporting families in crisis, and sharing the hope of Jesus in quiet, persistent ways.
To stay connected with these stories and the ongoing work across South Asia, follow Harvest Bridge on social media (Facebook, Instagram, and BlueSky) and subscribe to our email updates. You’ll hear more from leaders like Pastor Darpan across South Asia and see how we can support them as they do much, with little.